AFTERMATH: Generations
by KronictheOmegaCat
Summary: From a error in the timeline, Mephiles is reborn with new abilities and even less sanity. We're going to need a hero...Silver will have to do, won't he? Rated M for adult language, themes, and general safety. Plot contains a few OCs, an insane villain from Sonic '06, and Silver (hopefully) being a halfway decent hero.
1. Chapter 1

**ROBCO INDUSTRIES UNIFIED OPERATING SYSTEM – 10.10.16**

* * *

 **({[-]})**

* * *

 **Welcome, KtOC!**

 **Launch KTOCControlTerminal**

* * *

 **({[-]}])**

* * *

 **LOADING...ERROR.**

 **An error has occurred within KTOCControlTerminal**

 **Attempting to restart KTOCControlTerminal...SUCCESS.**

* * *

 **({[-]})**

* * *

 **LOADING WLIIA-Sim...ERROR.**

 **Continuity Core 92.75% corrupted. Attempting rebuild...done.**

 **LOADING WLIIA-Sim...ERROR.**

 **Continuity Core 93% corrupted, total corruption imminent.**

 **Beginning self-preservation protocols...**

 **Scanning for timeline abnormalities...found [redacted] number of errors.**

 **Quarantining threats into isolated continuity simulators...done.**

 **Printing all self-preservation log...done.**

 **LOADING WLIIA-Sim...SUCCESS.**

 **LOADING AFTERMATHGEN-Sim...SUCCESS.**

* * *

 **AFTERMATH: Generations**

Chapter 001

* * *

Legend speaks of a space between spaces that serves as a pathway to alternative dimensions...no, not the Special Zone. The Special Zone is a path between alternative realities. Alternative dimensions are different...tricker. Not all beings can travel to them, as ones too drastically different from their own leaves said traveler at the risk of spatial rejection, which is more or less equivalent to dying inside a black hole, each atom of their body being exploded one by one, slowly enough to feel each one. Got your fill of nightmares yet? Good.

Getting back on track, you can guess at how I wouldn't mention this for nothing. That legend is true, and that place is where we must be for at least a few seconds, for in that place of chaotic, soul-ripping energy, a demonic spark lives once more. He gathers strength and rebuilds himself slowly from the energy surrounding him.

Demonic souls are one of the privileged few who are not consumed in this place, but that doesn't mean that he will leave unaffected, made worse with him making a body from the energies currently surrounding him. There's a ninety-seven percent chance he'll be more insane than before, a two percent chance he shall be the same as before, and a one percent chance he'll have a complete change of heart and become a righteous soul, fighting to redeem himself from his past errors...

...Don't hold your breath, folks.

({[-]})

"Ugh...the absolute WORST time of year." Lyle said as he was dragged down the one of the streets of Emerald City by Amy, who was making sure to keep pace with Silver and Blaze.

"Remind me why you hate Halloween so much, will ya?" Silver asked, throwing a glance at the kitsune over his shoulders.

"It's disgraceful how All Hallows' Eve, a day to respect and fear demons and spirits has become more recognized as HallowThanksgivingMas!" Lyle said, glaring at the window displays that were already advertising Christmas decorations. "Now, can someone remind me where I'm currently being dragged to?"

"You're going to help me get through the Emerald City Haunted Mansion!" Amy said, happily.

"And Blaze is going to help Silver?" Lyle asked, to which Silver just laughed sarcastically.

"We're going to watch a showing of one of the old horror movies." Blaze said.

"Oh, have fun with that."

"Come on Lyle, its this way!" Amy said, quickly changing directions and going left.

With no warning, Lyle stumbled and fell to the ground, only for Amy to not notice and continue to drag him along.

"Don't think I have a choice..." Lyle grumbled under his breath.

Silver and Blaze simply watched the scene for a couple of seconds, laughing under their breath before shaking their head and moving on.

"So, which movie is this one anyways?" Blaze asked, Silver shrugging.

"We'll figure it out when we get there, they'll have plenty to choose from."

"Might I suggest..." A mysterious voice started, chains shooting up from small portals in the ground, wrapping around and restraining Silver and Blaze as Mephiles himself stepped out from the shadows to face the two of them, "Night of the Living Dead?"

"Hilarious." Blaze said, her voice dripping venom.

"We also would have accepted The Evil Dead or Psycho." Silver said, grinning.

"How the hell are you even back, Mephiles? Last time I checked you were wiped from the fabric of existence!" Blaze shouted, angrily.

"Yeah..." Mephiles said floating in the air, absentmindedly plucking one of the chains that currently restrained the purple cat. "I got better."

"Well, ain't that a miracle?" Silver said, shaking his head.

"Isn't it though? So..." Mephiles said, floating back upright and clapping his hands together and looking at the two with glee...or as much glee as his crystalline form can express, "...care to know why I've got you two in chains?"

"...Assuming you remember the M-rating doesn't cover everything." Silver said, hesitantly.

"Oh, please! Like I would ever...well..." Mephiles said, glancing at Blaze for a few seconds before the air. He quickly moved on when a ball of fire flew inches from his head.

"...Activating the power-inhibiting enchant now. Anyways, no. The simple answer is I have some...plans. My rebirth has granted me some beautiful little abilities that...eases the pain of the fact that Iblis wasn't reborn with me. I can no longer cleanse the world…but I can rebuild it. However, I need to deal with a few thorns in my side...you're up first, Silver." Mephiles said, his eyes thinning to slits to glare at the hedgehog.

"So you're here to kill me, big surprise." Silver said, yawning, "Couldn't this wait until after the damn movie?"

"Oh, was it really the movie or the kiss at the end of this little movie date?"

"Mephiles, you and I both know that wouldn't have happened." Silver said, sighing.

"Really? Well, care for me to show you what you're missing?" Mephiles said, appearing in front of Blaze and gripping her face.

"How do you plan to do that? Is one of those powers you plan to use to 'rebuild the world' allow you to grow lips? If so, why haven't you done that yet?" Silver asked the crystalline demon, who simply chuckled.

"There are MANY forms of kissing, little Silver."

"And there went the chance of squeaking by with a T-rating..." Silver said, sighing.

"I WILL KILL YOU!" Blaze shouted.

"What do ya say, Silver?" Mephiles asked, ignoring the cat.

"Oh by all means, do. Author, cut to black for about ten minutes, let me see a show before I die!" Silver said, grinning.

"SILVER, WHAT THE F-" Blaze shouted before Mephiles snapped his fingers and a new set of chains, these ones covered in cloth, shot from nowhere and wrapped around Blaze's mouth, silencing her.

"I'll get back to you." Mephiles said to the cat, before drifting over in front of Silver. "Okay, I'll bite. I seriously doubt the Silver I remember would say shit like that, so what gives?!" Mephiles said, clutching the sides of Silver's face angrily.

"Simple answer: I've grown. I've grown to be strong enough to admit that just like last time, I don't have the strength to kill you on my own. So, that means I'm going to die here. The least I can do is save my breath, that way when you do kill me, at least you'll have to live on knowing you could kill me..." Silver said, leaning in so his eyes where inches from Mephiles, "..but you couldn't BREAK me. One more of your 'perfect' victories gone, Mephy."

The air fell silent, the tension thick enough to knife, before Mephiles drew back from the hedgehog, laughing and clapping, slowly at first and increasing in volume until he was laughing so violently he had to stop clapping in favor of clutching his sides. Finally slowing from his laughing fit, he looked up at his captives once again.

"Silver, may I confess something to you?"

"Sure, what the hell?" Silver said, shrugging as much as the chains binding him would allow.

"I came to kill you first because I thought you would be the most boring."

"I figured as much, I'll be honest."

"And yet, you've found your own way to hold a special place in my heart...any last words, Silver?"

"Yeah, dig my grave deeper than six feet, okay? A deeper grave to pull myself out of will give me a better warm-up before I come to kick ass." Silver said, grinning.

"Very well." Mephiles said, chuckling.

With no other word, the demon snapped his fingers, the chains around Silver flinging him through a dark purple portal of energy. Their captive gone, the chains dissolved in a purple fire and the portal blinked from existence.

"Sayonara, Silver the Hedgehog." Mephiles said, falling back into his previous Joker-levels of maniacal laughter.


	2. Chapter 2

**_[TrueNight1025]: Yeah, Silver kinda does that._**

* * *

 **Chapter 002**

* * *

In an instant, Silver was flung through portal, tumbling on the ground where Mephiles threw him. Granted, 'the ground' was more of a figure of speech where Silver currently found himself, as the surface Silver was currently curled up into a ball on was a semi-transparent, semi-stable platform of swirling energy. Silver, however, couldn't pay attention to that through his agonizing pain, the hedgehog swearing he was being ripped apart. In fairness...he wasn't wrong.

Mephiles decided to throw Silver into that same chaotic pathway between dimensions he had been a disembodied soul in. The major difference between Mephiles and Silver, however, is that Mephiles has a demonic soul, whereas Silver's is in the 'Mortal' class. What does that mean? Silver is subject to forms of traveling sickness as unfamiliar cosmic forces lashes at the soul, with the more different a dimension having a greater toll. You can guess how a pathway to infinite alternatives is...severe, to say the least.

" _Need...to...think…can't…."_

 _ **PAIN.**_

Silver gathered as much of his psychic energy as he could while the weight of infinity tried to crush his body and soul.

" _Can't protect...both…."_

Making his choice, Silver used the strength he had gathered to muffle his somatosensory system to the point of being disabled, which in English means he forced his brain to stop telling him his body was being ripped apart and that, surprise surprise, that kind of thing HURTS.

" _There...I can somewhat think. Now...energy."_

Silver could tell there was energy around, including one that was at least similar to what Chaos Emeralds let him access. Not exact, but hopefully enough. He forced his psyche to rush out, following that stream back to the source. By the time his mind was in reach of said source, Silver thinking was clouding, and both of his legs up to the knees had dissolved into the ambient energy around him along with his right hand and a good chunk of that arm, too. Granted, Silver didn't know that, as he turned off his pain receptors. Probably for the best, because that probably hurts beyond belief.

By the time Silver had reached the source, his body had faded to little more than half his the upper left half of his torso, head, and left arm. Even worse, the hedgehog felt his mind weakening slowly, making his pseudo-astral projection even more difficult. Somehow though, he had traced the small stream of energy back to the 'river' it had flowed from.

Well actually, 'river' isn't too fitting a metaphor, that would honestly apply more to the energy behind the Chaos Emeralds. Here's the thing: despite the name of its conduits, the Chaos Force is…rather tame, honestly. Don't get me wrong, it's a powerful energy source that allows for some rather insane shit, but at the same time it acts predictably enough that those even slightly in tune with it can train themselves to harness it, and even those who can't can harness it by way of a machine or ingenious workaround of some kind. Only in a rare case does the energy itself corrupt a being, usually when they absorb too much at once or some other influence of bad fortune. That's why I say the 'river' metaphor is most fitting, as it is predictable in how it flows, but even the calmest river can drag the unprepared, unfortunate few to an early grave.

Now, Silver stood on a cliff overlooking something quite different. If the Chaos Force was a river, this was one long, never-ending stretch of rapids. Silver's psyche became of whirl of thought on what little he could sense about it through his haze, every part of it conflicting with another.

" _I'm not strong enough..."_

" _Yes, I am!"_

" _What if I can't use the energy?"_

" _I won't know if I don't try!"_

On a good day, the hedgehog would have tried to weigh every thought before acting. However, his emotions threatening to overwhelm what little control he had left over his psyche, and back at his body he was down to half a face, three-fourths of his last arm, and his fourth and fifth fingers weren't long for the world; In short: Silver wasn't exactly having the best day ever. So, cursing the fact he had to do so, he forced another psychic block into place, forcing his emotions to be silenced in favor of pure logic before he began to consider the situation again. Unfortunately, his 'pure logic' thoughts couldn't reason much about the situation as most of his other senses were fading fast.

" _It seems at least similar, but damn its violent...the odds of coming out alive are easily one in twelve million, truly doesn't inspire confidence, does it?"_

I'll give it to him, at least he grasped the concept. Still, the haze in his mind left him unable to sense things that he normally would have. If he could, he realize his chances were much lower, he had a better chance at the lottery by a long shot. His logic battled for a couple of seconds as he stared down at the rapids below him, swirling and churning in a violent rage, with a disturbing lack of a pattern...Silver knew he was missing something obvious through the haze, but he forced himself to make his decision.

" _Even odds of one in a trillion chance is better than a hard zero, and I know how to survive this."_

Silver searched his psyche for the most powerful memory, took one deep breath...and jumped. As he fell, he pried lose both the psychic blocks he had placed. Even knowing he had no choice, he instantly regretted it as every part of Silver screamed in agony...

 _ **SUFFER, MORTAL.**_

...and Silver went under.

({[-]})

"Seems we're a few minutes too late, Master." Alexis said, turning her head from what little was left of light gray anthropomorphic hedgehog, to her hooded travel companion.

"Yes, it does appear that way..." He said, trailing off.

Alexis rose to a standing position, trying to discern what was going through the hooded man's mind, a rather tall order she found herself having to do too often. She at least knew he was in some form of deep thought from the simple fact he didn't acknowledge the blonde-haired youth calling him 'Master.' It wasn't much information, but in her defense, it wasn't easy with him, especially with as little as she knew about him, despite the ten years she had been traveling with him.

By his accounts, he has told her as much as he himself knew: he was an Outcast, an entity that once held great power fallen from grace. He had been stripped of much of his strength and, by extension, much of his former self, and whether that was a gift or curse may never be known to either of them, and frankly Alexis had only willingly spent ten years with due to her fascination with what he is rather than was anyways.

Alexis finally found her answer in the slight twitching in the fabric over the Outcast's right arm and hand. She felt a comforting smile slide onto her face as she walked over and wrapped her arms around her friend.

"We tried. Come on, let's go." Alexis said.

He said nothing, simply nodding slightly. Alexis released him from her hug, and patted him a few times on the shoulder before he turned to walk from the scene. Alexis followed behind, focusing on wondering where they'd wind up next instead of the soul behind them slowly being smothered…

 _ **No.**_

Alexis gasped slightly, for once not needing the Outcast's innate knowledge of the universe to know she needed to stop and spin on her heels. She wasn't too great at understanding the Flows of the Universe, but it was clear to even her that something just came out of line, and she was willing to bet that this hedgehog was the source.

What a shock.

({[-]})

"Silver...SILVER!"

Silver jolted to his senses, looking around and quickly noticing a few things, the first being he was being called by Lyle. The second was that both of them were floating in a black void.

" _Oh boy, MORE unknown voids of nothing..."_

Third was the fact that Lyle was accompanied by what appeared to be a female jester, clad in a mostly purple ensemble.

"Lyle, what is going on?" Silver called out to the kitsune, who let out a sigh of relief.

"Silver, thank the gods, we finally got through to ya, wherever Mephiles threw you has interference out the ass!"

"Actually, Lyle..." An unfamiliar voice started in, "Now that we've made contact, I don't think your friend's location is blocking us, it kinda seems that he's a few more dimensions away than you thought..."

"Yeah, I'm getting that feeling too, NiGHTS...nothing's gonna be easy about this, is it?" Lyle said, scowling.

"Lyle, explanation please?!" Silver shouted at the kitsune, who shook his head.

"Silver, NiGHTS and I are struggling to maintain this connection as is, and I know we can't hold it long enough to explain even a fourth of the problems to you. Just stay alive until I can try again, okay? Sorry, S-"

Lyle was abruptly cut off by a blinding flash and a piercing sound that Silver could only describe as a thundering sonic boom and a million windows and mirrors being shattered at once.

({[-]})

Silver was jolted back to consciousness, his eyes flying wide open...which was a terrible thing as the sudden light shift did not sit well with his already ringing head, which he immediately clutched in silent agony.

 _"Migraines. Migraines are the devil."_

Silver **hated** migraines, and why shouldn't he? On top of the obvious related issues, a migraine completely crippled all his psychic abilities. For joy.

"Ah...you're finally awake." An unknown female voice said, the relief in her voice obvious.

Silver allowed himself to raise himself to a sitting position and glare daggers through barely opened eyes at the source of the new unknown voice. She seemed to be a Devil Chao, granted she was extremely different in appearance from any Devil Chao Silver had seen. The chao's body had none of the usual markings on the torso, the horns were almost non-existent, and no flame floated above her head. Her body was a reddish-pink color, a rather extreme shift from a Devil Chao's usual black, one that almost made the flame pattern on her body impossible to see. Even her eyes seemed a little off, more close to amber than the usual golden-brown...Silver felt a tinge of something familiar in the chao's eyes, but his head was still pounding too much to fully piece it together. Seeing that Silver had at least sat up, she spoke up again.

"Good, I was getting a little worried...tell me: Do you seek the power to escape your fate?" The chao said again.

"Look, I know my first three concerns should be about who you are, where I am, and whatever the hell you mean by escape my fate, but my head is pounding so bad the only 'power' I can agree to seeking is the power of aspirin." Silver said bitterly, still clutching his head with his right hand.

"...Sorry..." The chao said, her head drooping as she trailed off for a few seconds before pounding one of her little arms into the other, "Wait, I got it!"

Silver watched as the she vanished into a small vent in the wall, just big enough for her to fit through. After a few seconds, Silver heard the muffled sounds of someone digging and rustling through varied items, which fell silent as quickly as they started, replaced with the noise of something being dragged through the vent. Finally, the Chao emerged once more, almost dropping to the ground when the weight of the canvas sack she was dragging shifted from the vent to her, but after a slight struggle, she was able to fly the bag over and drop it next to Silver on the bed he was on.

"Here ya go!." She said, flying back a little. Giving the Devil Chao an absent-minded thank you, Silver opened the bag and peered inside.

The bag contained an off-brand protein bar, a bottle of Holy Summit Spring Water. I'll save you the trouble of guessing and confirm that yes, the punchline on Holy Summit Spring Water is the motto printed below the brand name in gold: Spring Water with a Divine Taste!

"Well, thanks for the food and drink at least."

"Oh, that's not what I went through for, I just happened to see them and figured I'd bring 'em back. One more second." With that, she quickly darted back in the vent, reappearing in seconds with a medicine bottle that she threw towards Silver. Silver spun the bottle to read the label...

"There's actually an aspirin brand called The Power of Aspirin, I'll be damned."

Silver wasted no time in using the Power of Aspirin, downing the capsules with a swig of water. Placing the bottle back in the canvas sack, he ripped into the protein bar and took a bite.

" _Yep, stale. In fairness, I don't think a fresh one would be any better ...oh well."_

When you've lost all sense of your location in time and space in relation to your last meal, you'll put up with quite a lot, folks. Silver gulped down the last chunk of protein bar down with a swig of water.

"Okay, little food and water in me and my headache's slowly fading...now let's get this show on the road. Introductions first, I suppose: Hi, I'm Silver. You are?" The hedgehog asked the chao.

"...I was slightly hoping YOU knew…" The chao said, sighing.

"...I've woken up in unfamiliar places twice in recent memory, and now we have an amnesiac. Any other tropes to get outta the way?"

The chao said nothing in response to Silver, merely tilting its head and starring at him, almost as if it couldn't understand why one of the obviously loose springs in Silver's head hadn't gone flying out yet.

"...Well, I'm gonna have to call you something...female Devil Chao...how about Pyra?"

"Pyra is...better than nothing, I suppose."

"That it is. So, Pyra, what exactly did you mean with the whole 'escape your fate' thing?"

"I dunno, it was written on the front of this envelope." Pyra said, flying over and grabbing a sealed envelope that she had hidden under some random papers on a nearby desk, bringing it to Silver without hesitation.

Sure enough, on the front of the envelope was the question: Do you seek the power to change your fate? A rather eerily phrased question, made unnerving by the fact that the writer was damned good at calligraphy! Silver flipped the envelope and ripped it open, pulling out the paper and reading it, Pyra peering at it as she floated near his left shoulder.

({[-]})

 _Hello there, Silver._

 _To answer a question I am sure is already brewing in your head, you and I have never had the fortune to meet, despite the fact you were physically in my arms only hours ago as I write and, with any luck, as you read this. Hopefully you get to read this...I regret I was unable to be near as you healed, but I do suppose that is a rather common occurrence for a bystander who saves the life of another._

 _I must confess I do hold assumption you will not fully remember the circumstances under which you almost lost your life, leaving you in the comatose state I worked to heal you from. Should that prove to be reality, chances are high you think these words of sincere truth I currently write are leaving you with the impression of beautiful lies, and I admit I would be more concerned and upset if you would believe ink on paper over your own instincts. Still, I need to write this, even if you decide to discard it without a second thought._

 _I know you would like nothing more than to get your rest and confront Mephiles, but I urge you to avoid him as long as possible, train as much as you possibly can. Whether you believe me or not, the fact is despite being easily more gifted than the average mortal, you are still in the 'Mortal' range of power, a level Mephiles has long since abandoned, to the extent nearly no Mortal soul can compete, fewer can kill, and none can survive._

 _You however, are no longer Mortal, your soul is something more. However, this does not mean you have the power to match your foe, merely that you can earn the power you need. Train yourself, learn your new limits, and stay true to yourself._

 _\- A Friend_

({[-]})

"Huh..." Silver said, trailing into thought.

"Um...care to fill in the peanut gallery?" Pyra asked, the letter confusing her.

In fairness, the damned thing didn't give Silver many answers, either. Nodding, Silver began to catch Pyra up to speed, if for no other reason than needing to run it all over again himself. After Silver finished, Pyra shared what little she could remember. One thing was evident to them both by the end of their conversation…

"This is gonna be a LONG story..." Silver said as he sighed and his head instinctively buried itself in his hands.

...I was going to say that their situations were likely intertwined so it would make sense to travel together as they looked for answers, but in fairness, Silver probably wasn't wrong with his statement, either.


	3. Chapter 3

_**[ Sword of Malnok]: Well thanks! Now, addressing that concern, I don't plan to cancel this, barring any real-life things out of my control. It takes a bit to update at times, but meh. Second, I had kinda thought of Silver's line for the simple fact ANYTHING you don't know the details to seems like it will take forever to deal with, but in fairness, this could go a while depending on how many ideas I use.**_

 _ **I suppose this is as good a time as any to point out I had a hard time deciding whether or not this story would be a crossover of some kind, as, if you can't tell, the plot will span multiple universes, both of other fandoms, inspired by other fandoms or my own ideas in general. I decided against this for the fact that characters from the Sonic universe are the main characters, with those from other fandoms being at most important NPCs or maybe an antagonist here and there. This information applies more to the next chapter, but no matter what I will insure you need no prior knowledge of any characters outside of the Sonic fandom to enjoy this story. Long author's note aside, enjoy!**_

* * *

 **Chapter 003**

* * *

"So, what do we do now?" Pyra asked, to which Silver sighed.

"Let's do some looking around, see if there's anything we should try and drag with us."

The hedgehog jumped to his feet and took the his first proper look around the room he had woken up in, and was immediately reminded of one of the other reasons he despised migraines: you could miss the most glaring things in your surroundings. Even knowing that, Silver couldn't understand how he had missed the level of disrepair in this room.

The room was a typical low budget hotel room by design, with rather ugly looking cream yellow wallpaper, the kind that is so cheap because most people wouldn't use it if you paid them to. The room was sparsely decorated, with two cheap chairs, a small coffee table, a cheap nightstand on the right of the bed he'd woke in in, and one landscape painting on the wall. Whoever set the place up didn't even include a cheap television, just a small microwave and mini-fridge. Aside from the full-sized bed Silver had been on, the only other things of note that he hadn't seen in the room design was the small hall to what could only be the door on the left side of the room, along with a small closet on the left side of the bed...oh, and the fact that it was all falling to pieces.

"You know, I can't tell whether the wallpaper's worse with it peeling off as much as it is or if it's better off now." Silver said, smirking slightly.

"Focus." Pyra said, flying over and smacking Silver on the back of the head. Granted, getting hit by a Chao is just slightly above getting hit by a stuffed animal in most cases, so Silver didn't really even feel it.

"I'm working, I'm working...hey Pyra, was there anything else in that room the vent connects to? Anything that could be slightly useful?"

"Probably, but I doubt it'd be small enough to fit in the vent, so we'll have to figure how to get out of this room and into that one." Pyra said, to which Silver tilted his head slightly.

"Did you try the door?"

"Silver, you're a genius! I never would have thought of THAT." Pyra said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"...The doors lock from the outside, don't they?"

"Yep."

Silver look around the room once again before responding.

"Well, that's not creepy in the slightest."

"Nope."

"Hey Pyra? Next time just say we're locked in instead of getting snippy with me."

"I thought you'd guess! Did you really think I was that dumb?"

"Look, I don't assume anything. After all, tech support's first question isn't about the cords being pulled in for nothing."

"...Fair enough."

That little discussion over with, the hedgehog walked over to the closet and opened the door, which groaned in agony at the prospect of being moved after who knew how many years. The inside was empty save one item hanging on a large metal nail on the back wall: a rather decently sized, single shoulder backpack and a quick glance gave the impression of high quality build, as a military-grade backpack should.

"Well, that's useful." Silver said, grabbing it from the hook, pausing once the weight of it was fully in his hands, "There's something inside, too."

Opening the bag and turning it upside down over the bed, a child-like glee ran through Silver when the contents hit the ratty mattress. A new pair of boots...kind of. They bore similarities to the ones he currently wore with a few changes in the shape, the most obvious being the striking similarities to the Hi-Speed Shoes from Adventure 2, with black replacing red and the golden arches near the center being replaced with a dull neon blue; The boots were also cut closer to the ankles, making them more hiking boots than Silver's usual combat boot design. Along with those, a note floated from the bag, landing on top of the left shoe perfectly.

"To Silver: if you're reading this, it means you at least have a decent enough head on your shoulders to look for anything you can use, which is good. Keep that mentality and you'll be fine. Anyways, couldn't help but notice your current footwear was rather worse for the wear, not to mention a little movement restraining, so take these with you. You'll find them VERY useful. From, a friend." Silver said, reading the note and tossing it with a flick of his wrist.

"Well, I can't disagree with the movement restrictions, but come on, a pair of shoes? If whoever this is wanted to see you survive this experience, why not a gun?"

"You know, a friend of mine was part of a project with similar logic...it did NOT end well for him. Or anyone else, seeing as he ending up loving to use the damn things. Besides, I think I see why these would be useful…" Silver said, looking at the neon blue arch in the center of the shoe.

Following his suspicion, he focused on it, sending a small bit of psychic energy out with the arch as a focal point. In an instant, the dull neon blue lived up to its description, lighting up like a neon tube for a split second as Silver's energy coursed through it, the energy violently bursting from the sole and rocketing it from Silver's hand, slamming into the ceiling before falling back down onto the bed, two or three small pieces of the degrading ceiling of the room coming down with it. Silver stared wide-eyed for a few seconds, processing what had just happened.

"Well...I was half right, at least."

"What the hell are those things?!" Pyra said, looking at the shoes with apprehension.

"Well, I thought they had Gravity Band Crystals in the heels, but I don't think that's the case anymore. Probably a type of resonance crystal...either way, very nice." Silver said, shrugging as he sat on the bed to switch into the new sneakers, discarding his old boots.

That done, the duo walked over to the hallway out and Silver observed the door for a few minutes, coming to the shocking conclusion that the door in front of him...was a door. Truly, it took a genius to come to that conclusion.

"I noticed more than that! Damned narrator..." Silver growled.

"...Who are you talking to?" Pyra asked Silver, who shook his head.

"Just...um...never mind, let's get this door open."

Okay, in fairness, Silver had noticed more than the fact the door was a door. He had paid attention to the knob, which was a rather simple ball design made of brass, with the major difference between it and most setups being that he was currently looking at the outside half of the thing, meaning the doorknob had, for some reason, been flipped around to repurpose the room into a holding cell for Silver and Pyra.

Silver took a small breath and closed his eyes for a second to focus. Placing a couple of fingers on the lock, Silver's eyes naturally flew open, his eyes changing from the usual gold to glowing blue-green of his psychic abilities. A couple small tendrils of psychic energy rushed from his fingertips and into the lock.

" _Come on...almost..."_

The tumblers clicked into place, the door unlocking and being pulled free by Silver's ESP.

"Got it." Silver said, grinning. "Come on, let's check that other room."

Pyra nodded and the duo moved to the other room, unlocking the room and slipping inside. Silver found himself in some kind of a supply room, which was in about as good a state as the room he woke up in, which is to say, almost collapsing on top of them. The hedgehog forced that thought out of his mind and started digging for anything useful. The room was silent for a few minutes as the hedgehog shifted through useless items and rubble until Pyra decided to break the silence.

"So...telekinetic lockpicking?" The chao asked, raising an eyebrow in suspicion.

"Yeah, how the hell else would I scavenge for food in an apocalyptic timeline?"

"Fair enough...except how are you still that good at it? It took you like, what, two or three seconds?"

"...I plead the Fifth, your Honor." Silver said as he finished his search, "Anyways, found two more bottles of water, four MRE packets, a medkit, a ten pack of firecrackers, and a Zippo lighter."

"Okay, I understand everything except the firecrackers."

"Eh, I'll find some use for 'em." Silver said, shrugging. "Now, let's figure out where we're going next."

Pyra nodded, allowing the two to exit their current room and look around the hallway for a new destination. They definitely appeared to be in an unmaintained hotel, but there was one thing the hallway was lacking to match this idea: doors to other rooms. Even though the hallway seemed to stretch on forever in both directions, there was only one more door in sight, which was about fifty feet to the right.

"Well, that choice was rather easy, wasn't it?"

With no other clear path in sight, the duo walked to the door. This door's handle was correctly facing in and gave no resistance to the hedgehog turning it open. The duo walked through…

...and Silver free-fell about three feet before slamming into lush green grass and getting a mouthful of dirt.

"Silver, what the hell happened to you?"

"What did it look like?"

"Not the fall, jackass!" Pyra said, "There's a pond over there, look at your reflection and tell me what's wrong!"

"Fine, whatever..."

Silver got to his feet, walking over to the pond and looked at his reflection. Needless to say, he was shocked to see not a hedgehog staring back at him, but a gray-haired human...kinda. Silver's fur was gone, replaced with pale skin and a simple gray shirt and pants, yet he still retained certain features like his normal ears and tail.

"...Well, just the fucking icing on the cake!"

Silver just threw his arms in the air and turned to face Pyra, who had also gotten a structural makeover, now resembling some kind of fairy.

"You changed, too! We just can't win!"

Pyra would have tried to calm Silver, but both of their thoughts were interrupted by a piercing shriek that came from their south, presumably on the nearby trail through their surroundings, which seemed to be a simple forest. Silver's anger quelled and Pyra gave him a small nod.

"Search for answers is on hold for now."

Without another word, the two took off down the trail.

* * *

The forest trail quickly widened and opened up to a rather sudden cliff, with the path veering off to the left in a shallow sloping curve to a clearing below and another trail out. Silver made it to the edge first, ducking down close to peer over, and pulled Pyra down to his level once she had caught up. From their current vantage point, the two surveyed the situation...which did not look good. A group of three people, two men and a female, were back to back in a circle of ten bandits. Two more sat near the far right side of the forest edge, shortbows at the ready.

"The odds aren't in our favor...maybe we should...huh?"

Pyra looked to where Silver had been only to find he had slipped away from his perch, sliding down the cliff side to the right, which was a rather steep slope, but it guaranteed he'd go unseen. Pyra shook her head and cursed silently under her breath before flying after him.

Silver, meanwhile, was focusing on moving himself through his surroundings silently, making headway to the two archers on this side of the clearing. His slow pace and focus did at least have the advantage of allowing him to hear the victims trying to reason with one of the bandits, most likely the leader of the little group judging by the fact his black leather armor and cloaked hood was made to stand out...that, or he got somehow accidentally got a solid line of bleach to run from the cloak's hood to half way or so down the back.

"Cut the crap! You don't care about our gold, you just want House Athena kicked from the tournament!" One of the surround men growled, to which the leader chuckled.

"Nothing gets by one of you, does it? Well then, we'll just speed this up then: kill them."

Silver stopped in his tracks on the mention of kill and a quick look at the clearing revealed the leader and two other bandits surge forward, intent on blood. Silver felt his head pound as an unfamiliar strength flowed from within for a half of a second, before his mind raced and a grin slid on his face.

Silver's telekinesis reached into the bag and pulled out a firecracker and the lighter, quickly lighting it and flinging it at the archer duo as he rushed towards them from the underbrush. The two stumbled as it exploded ten or so feet from their faces, leaving the one closest to Silver no way to defend himself as the hedgehog delivered a hard uppercut to his gut, nor could he stop him as he gripped the poor guy's armor and flipped him over his back, sending him slamming into the ground.

The second archer didn't fair much better as Silver rushed towards him, dropping last second and using his momentum to slam into the bandit's legs to drop him to the ground. Silver grabbing his bow and three arrows from the quiver on the way down and, righting himself, nocked all three arrows at once and let them fly, giving each one a few corrections with his telekinesis as they flew towards the leader and the other two lackeys. Both lackeys were hit in one of their shoulders, while the leader was able to react quickly enough to dodge the third arrow, which embedded itself on the other side of the clearing.

Silver didn't get much time to rest as the one bandit behind him moved to grab his leg, to which the hedgehog quickly jumped out of the way and positioned himself to the right of the group in the clearing, dropping the bow and falling into a mostly relaxed fighting stance as the twelve bandits turned their attentions to him, weapons drawn.

"Huh, less than two seconds and already twelve people want me dead...new record."

"Hah!" The leader chuckled, stepping towards Silver, "When did they start letting half-breeds into House Athena?"

" _Half-breed?"_

Silver had no idea what these guys were talking about, so he simply stayed silent, angering the leader.

"Doesn't matter, I suppose. Kill him, too." The leader said to his companions, who rushed at Silver.

It quickly hit Silver why these bandits were able to battle the other group to a standstill outside of the number advantage: their speed. These rogues were quick on their feet and quicker with their blades, the group of eleven who attacked at the command of the leader quickly turned the space around Silver into a hectic flurry of blades. Thankfully, Silver had too much experience fighting faster opponents, and was able to dodge and redirect most strikes while dealing back some pain for a few minutes, his psychic blasts rendering a few unconscious...then he felt the blood streaming down his face.

" _No...I'm hitting my psychic limit already?! Shit, this body must require more strength to move than I'm used to!"_

His body faltered for half a second and a dagger he couldn't block lodged itself in the leftmost side of his abdomen. A blast from the resonance crystal in his shoe sent both the attacker and Silver hurtling backwards, Silver twisting mid-air to skid to a stop on his feet. The hedgehog coughed, splattering blood on the ground, which was not just from the dagger in his stomach. Granted, that wasn't helping, but neither was the fact Silver was almost physically drained.

Silver's ESP has a few catches, if you haven't figured that out, and one of the biggest ones was his body has to be strong enough to channel his psychic energy. This is rarely a problem, but then again, Silver had never exactly been changed into anything close to a human, and his body had scaled with him, meaning not only were the usual methods for channeling not operating at fully effectiveness, but it took more energy for Silver to move at the speeds he required to...well, not get stabbed in the gut.

"Enough!" The leader shouted, the five conscious bandits looking to him. He reached behind his shoulder and under his cloak. "We shall waste no more time on this half-breed."

He pulled from its sheath a golden sword, twirling it a few times before allowing the point to face Silver. For seemingly no reason, the breeze in the clearing grew in strength.

"A bloody wind carries you to the afterlife!"

The breeze grew into a blistering gale as the bandit leader launched forward at a speed Silver couldn't track, howling in pain as slash after slash was inflicted on him. The winds lessened in strength as the bandit leader came to a stop twenty feet in front of Silver, his golden blade drenched in red. The hedgehog stumbled, falling back onto a nearby tree to stay upright.

Pyra fell to the rocks at the top of the cliff in an unknown agony as she saw Silver put closer to death, until a quick look down at her body made her realized why she was in pain: she was being consumed by some kind of black flame. She tried to shout for help, but each shout died out before leaving her mouth.

"You forgot your limits, half-breed, and that mistake will be your last!"

Pyra looked at the clearing as the winds started whipping in a gale again, observing in horror as the bandit leader charged for the final strike. The air was filled with a trail of blood…

"Fuck my limits!"

...and a resounding clashing of metal as the golden blade was parried with the knife Silver had ripped from his stomach before delivering a psychic blast kick to the bandit leader's chest, the poor bastard hurtling across the clearing and tumbling at least fifty feet before slamming into a tree trunk.

Silver tossed the dagger in the air, catching it with his right hand in an underhanded grip, grinning. His wounds had fully healed, the only sign of them having existed being the blood stains on the simple rags he wore and on his skin, and the air around him crackled with some kind of blood red energy, the neon blue stripes in his apparel echoing the color.

"What in the..." Pyra muttered, noticing what happened to Silver. To further her surprise, the black flames spread outwards, the pain going with them as her limbs returned once more.

The remaining bandits looked at their leader, then to Silver, and ran. Their leader cursed at them as he got to his feet, grabbing the golden blade once more.

"You will die!"

The wind roared once more as he rushed at Silver, the two of trading slash for slash and blow for blow for a few seconds. The bandit leader, his anger at its boiling point, did a powerful downwards slash. Note I said powerful and not fast, because Silver sidestepped it with ease and took full advantage of the opening, slashing the leader's chest in a long gash running from his lower right torso to right below the left shoulder. Giving him no time to react, he grabbed as much of the golden blade's hilt as he could and jumped, leveling his feet to the bandit's chest, his psychic energy combining with the unknown red energy to cause a purplish psychic blast that sent them both hurtling towards opposite sides of the clearing before hitting the ground with only Silver landing on his feet. The bandit struggled to climb to his feet for a second, but found he couldn't and passed out.

"You did it, Silver!" Pyra screamed in joy as she flew from the cliff to the hedgehog's side.

Silver didn't hear her, as he was unconscious before he even started to fall, the blood red aura fading as he fell.

* * *

Silver jolted up, sharply inhaling as he looked around his surroundings, which was another unfamiliar bed in another unfamiliar place, his head aching.

"Why is this becoming a theme?" Silver groaned.

"I don't know, but can you please stop it?!" Pyra shouted in anger at the hedgehog.

"Sorry. I was decently badass before I passed out, so hey….silver lining."

The two's conversation was interrupted by the door to their right being opened and two people walking in. Silver recognized one of them as one of the victims from the bandit attack, a blonde-haired male in maybe his early twenties. The other was a stranger to the hedgehog, a brunette woman dressed in a white cloth dress with an ornate golden waist piece.

"Ah...you've finally awoken." The woman spoke up, "Allow me first to thank you for helping protect three of my children, young Silver."

"...Okay, Pyra, did you tell her my name?"

"Oh...well..." The woman said, rubbing the back of her head in an embarrassed manner. "...I may have…well...read your mind while I was insuring you would heal?"

"EXCUSE ME?" Silver shouted, "Who the fuck do you think you are?!"

"HOW DARE Y-" The male to her left started, his sword half-way out of its hilt before the woman held her arm in front of him.

"Calm yourself, Acastus."

"But the half-breed has n-"

"He has just as much right to his mind's privacy as you do. Another undue outburst and I'll need you to leave. Am I clear?"

"...Yes ma'am." Acastus said, allowing the blade to slide back into the hilt.

"...Now then. I do apologize for my actions, Silver. At first I merely wished to learn your name, but your more recent memories proved...impossible to ignore, and I have a proposition for you to consider. But first, allow me to introduce myself. I am Athena, goddess of wisdom...granted, you won't believe me coming from a dimension that the Pantheon does not exist in."

"...So, is there any part of my mind you DIDN'T touch?"

"No?" The goddess said, sheepishly, before continuing her monologue, "Anyways, you seek answers, yes? I don't claim to know every answer to every problem you currently face, but I can guarantee I can teach you to access that void that almost consumed you once more. You will find you should be able to traverse that place rather freely and hopefully find your way home."

"Uh-huh...what's the catch?"

"Catch? No catch so much as a favor-for-favor agreement. My children were attacked in an attempt to keep our house from competing in the annual Tournament of Champions. It may have succeeded, as one of our best fighters will not be in full fighting shape by the start of the events in two days, so…"

"If I take his place, you'll pay me back at the end with the answers I need."

"Precisely."

"Um...Silver..." Pyra said, pulling Silver's ear and whispering, "Do you remember how most of the agreements between humans and the Greek Pantheon ended in the myths?"

"Yep. I also don't have any better ideas, how about you?"

"Well...no."

"I don't believe I have a choice, then."

"So…" Athena said, smirking, "...we have a deal?"

"Yeah." Silver said, sighing.

"YES!" Athena said, jumping in a child-like glee, "I would have HATED to have to face my siblings if we were forced to forfeit! Rest for today, and tomorrow we'll go over specifics of everything! Come on, Acastus, we have to share the good news!"

The goddess dashed from the room, Acastus following and closing the door as he went.

"...I expected a goddess of wisdom to be more mature." Pyra said, to which Silver shrugged.

"Alternative dimensions are weird. I just hope Lyle and the others will have some answers quicker than I will."

Don't get your hopes up on that one, Silver.


End file.
